Ms. Willebrand and Ms. McCabe are co-chairs of the Green Party's International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl). Ms. Willebrand and Mr. Feinstein are helping to organize the Global Greens meeting, serving on the steering and financial committees of the event.

Several other US Greens will also attend the Global Greens Congress, including Lynne Serpe, one of the organizers of the party's 2008 National Nomination Convention, set for Chicago, July 10-13.

"The Global Greens meeting together in Sao Paul may justly lay claim to be one of the only federations of political parties in the world that unites in one integrated whole the aspirations of the peoples of the world for ecological sanity, social justice, democracy, and an end to militarism," said Mr. Rensenbrink, a principal founder of the Global Green Network, a communication channel for all the Green Parties in the world.

Cynthia McKinney, candidate for the Green Party's presidential nomination (http://www.runcynthiarun.org) and a former US Congresswoman from Georgia, is scheduled to deliver a plenary speech on Friday, May 2. Ms. McKinney is one of four Green presidential candidates; the others are Jesse Johnson (http://www.jesse08.org), Kent Mesplay (http://www.mesplay.org), and Kat Swift (http://www.voteswift.org). Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry is running for the Green vice-presidential nomination.

The Global Greens Agenda

The Global Greens is the international network of officially recognized Green parties and green political movements. Its mission is to promote the Global Green Charter (http://www.globalgreens.org/globalcharter) among Green Parties throughout the world, as well as kindred green groups and society at-large; to stimulate and facilitate action on matters of global consequence; and to deepen communication among Greens everywhere. The Green Party of the United States is also an active participant in the Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas (http://www.fpva.org.mx).

More than 800 delegates from over 80 countries in six continents have registered for the Congress, with large delegations from Africa and the Asia-Pacific Region.

The program for the Global Greens meeting (http://www.globalgreens.org/brazil2008/working_draft_program) features a wide range of events, including a dedication to Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian Green presidential candidate who was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2002 and is still being held; plenary discussions on the global climate crisis, biodiversity, sustainable cities, and the future of the Global Greens; and approval of a Global Green climate change action plan.

The US Green delegation will lead a workshop during the conference on the relationships among the Green Party of the United States and other Green Parties around the world, with a focus on the US Green role as the main opposition party to the US two-party political establishment and current US foreign policies (http://plan21.globalgreens.org/node/48), and US Green Party responsibilities in the world at large and in relation to other Green Parties.

The Congress will be officially opened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Prominent Green politicians at the meeting include European Green Party Co-Spokespersons Ulrike Lunacek and Philippe Lamberts; Reinhard Buetikofer, Co-Chair of the German Green Party; Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May; Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens; and several prominent Brazilian Green leaders. A media room at the Congress venue will be provided for journalists covering the event, and media and communications officers will be on hand to assist reporters and facilitate interviews with key participants.

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